The original living room in the front of the house, had a lovely fireplace, the typical Spanish arched ceilings and furnishings that had not been often occupied. Since the back of the house was more conducive to casual conversation, we oriented the living area there and created the front room as a casual and elegant dining area and work space..

The arched ceiling in two alcoves on either side of the fireplace, called for attention… a useful bar or food display ledge for entertaining. We spanned the walls with hand planed timbers in each alcove and silver leafed wall areas to accent the wall sconce and candle lighting. This also made the fireplace predominant..

The neutral palate of the walls and ceiling compliment the soft blue grey in fabrics. When using a color in a muted form, it’s always a shock of beauty to see the concentrated hue as accent. Here we set the table with hand tie-dyed indigo linen napkins and cobalt trimmed glassware.

The niche in the fireplace wall had an existing outlet most likely for display of a lit Saint or Christ figure common in the Spanish Mediterranean tradition of architecture. Yet the more I set a lamp in this spot, the less I wanted to see the cord and outlet and so on. Eventually candles fit the bill.

The slabs of sandstone around the fireplace had been installed in a rather rushed fashion. The cement grout as a finish on the wall, was not polished. Adding pieces of tiles, broken glass and marbles around the stone, gave the wall its jewelry.

We had selected the raised velvet head chair fabric immediately as it suited the Mission Style chairs, picked up from an estate sale. Finding the velveteen screen printed fabric took a while longer. Eventually the two fabrics together spoke of the modern adaptations we had made throughout.

When choosing a wall color, I like to consider three main factors. Depth of color, reflective quality and texture. I’ve used lyme paint (made from lyme, emulsifier and pigment) in many many projects over the years. It’s supreme for its quality of texture and warmth.

The white lyme paint you see here is difficult to photograph, but imagine the surface of a shell that has a depth in its surface. Match that with good lighting, and the glow is delightful.

After traversing the hallway from the front door, you are entering the main rear of the house and in doing so, the eye catches the light of a curved wall and platform in place of what had been a large set of pantry doors bordering the kitchen. It was a sacrifice of space we made up for in the garage, but essential for a beautiful stopping point on the entry of the room.

When I first entered this room, the first thing I noticed was a full set of nine-pane doors. Through all the mullions of the small windows, it was hard to distinguish the beauty of the garden. When we changed the doors, the landscaping and koi pond became a major part of the home.

When deciding on the elements this room needed, after the door change, I knew it wouldn’t be the furniture. What the clients had was fine, although this is what they described needing. It was all in the architecture and how the space was lit. These and a soft color, would bring this area (remodeled as an Arts and Crafts style addition years earlier ), back to the Spanish Mediterranean style of the home.

Since the cabinets in their original oak finish, were not in keeping with the age of the home, I suggested two new finishes. One, to strip the bottom cabinets and two, to paint/stain the top cabinets. This with the change of tile to a classic Spanish, made all the difference.

The original oak cabinets had clear coat, that had to come off before altering the finish. We did this with a combination of paint remover and sanding. Then the walnut/ebony stain was applied. Sanding through this stain coat when dry, adding new layers of at various stages, gave us the distressing we needed for cabinets that looked the age of the home.

I was determined to find classic iron hardware which was not easy. Finally I went to Tijuana, Mexico and found a family still making the wrought iron hardware. Most styles available in the States, were bigger and more modern than the classic styles used more aptly in adobe homes today.

We used a classic natural linen for the curtains throughout the home. As with the ribbon trim in the dining room, here we used a paint brush pattern of many colors to compliment the colorful hues in the artwork.

When commissioning the counter to be cast, it was imperative the edge on one side be artistic in nature and not simply a rounded curve. The planed barn oak timbers used on the wall called for an equally textural application. Creating the mold required breaking pieces of cement before the right impression could be made.

The Clowes had installed colorful tile on the stair facings. It was just a bit more elementary than the space and home called for. So instead of ripping out the old and replacing it with something a bit more in keeping with the home, we simply chipped some out and added fragments of Mexican patterns.

The upper hallway was lit with wonderful light from high windows. It gave a feeling of airiness to the whole area. It only seemed natural to enhance the lower hall with a niche for accenting a tree, or art. We removed a linen closet door and interior shelving, plastered the area and added a ledge, for a key focal point in the home.